@flopiflo.bsky.social
Karoline Leavitt’s White House briefings aren’t just spin – they reflect what George Orwell warned about: lies divorced from reality, and the use of “doublethink” to have a word (like “transparency”) mean just the opposite. A historian who studies Orwell explains:
Thread ⬇️ buff.ly/tb8q3ES
Thread ⬇️ buff.ly/tb8q3ES
Karoline Leavitt’s White House briefing doublethink is straight out of Orwell’s ‘1984’
A historian analyzes how White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt’s claims about her boss and his administration are ‘doublespeak’ straight out of the pages of George Orwell’s ‘1984.’
buff.ly
December 24, 2025 at 1:55 AM
Trump is far from the first president to be deeply skeptical of the academic research community. But his actions this year went far beyond the precedent. buff.ly/C7WkXkq
Trump’s second term is reshaping US science with unprecedented cuts and destabilizing policy changes
The Trump administration is rewriting the 80-year-old American social contract for science research.
buff.ly
December 24, 2025 at 1:54 AM
The attack against Venezuela’s principal revenue source has nothing to do with drug trafficking–military operations abroad are the least effective method of combating drugs–but rather, reflects an imperial desire acted on by the last five U.S. administrations.
Trump Seizes Venezuelan Oil Tanker, Threatens Colombia "Could Be Next" Target For Regime Change
The attack against Venezuela's principal revenue source has nothing to do with drug trafficking–military operations abroad are the least effective method of combating drugs–but rather, reflects an imp...
www.counterpunch.org
December 24, 2025 at 1:51 AM
Europeans show solidarity with Denmark after Trump’s Greenland threat
Europeans show solidarity with Denmark after Trump’s Greenland threat
Trump has revived his ambitions to incorporate Greenland into US territory citing national security, prompting European leaders to voice support for Denmark. 'Greenland belongs to its people - and Denmark is its guarantor.'
l.euronews.com
December 24, 2025 at 1:49 AM
Starting January 7, the Department of Education plans to withhold a portion of the wages of around 1,000 defaulted borrowers. The number will gradually increase within the following months. trib.al/FQXXGy9
December 24, 2025 at 1:45 AM
Even people living above 400 percent of the poverty line will be deeply affected—particularly older enrollees and those living in higher-premium locations—as they will lose their credits entirely. Around half of those who would lose eligibility are between the ages of 50 and 64. trib.al/NQ8E6l3
Here’s What Happens Now That We’re Going Over the Obamacare Cliff
ACA marketplace enrollees are set to see their health insurance costs spike. But when premium tax credits expire, profound systemic shocks will be felt well beyond individual customers.
trib.al
December 24, 2025 at 1:44 AM
Greenland is an autonomous territory within the Kingdom of Denmark – a sovereign nation.
Venezuela is a sovereign nation.
Panama is a sovereign nation.
Canada is a sovereign nation.
Mexico is a sovereign nation.
Ukraine is a sovereign nation.
Venezuela is a sovereign nation.
Panama is a sovereign nation.
Canada is a sovereign nation.
Mexico is a sovereign nation.
Ukraine is a sovereign nation.
December 24, 2025 at 1:41 AM
“When so much of our ability to communicate out facts to the world is concentrated in a small number of people, and there’s a squeezing of independent media ... I think we’re working with an information ecosystem that is highly dangerous.”
CBS Censorship: Bari Weiss Pulls “60 Minutes” Exposé on Torture of Migrants U.S. Sent to El Salvador
The new head of CBS News, Bari Weiss, is facing accusations of censorship after she abruptly canceled a segment from Sunday's episode of 60 Minutes just three hours before broadcast. The segment centered on the stories of Venezuelan immigrants sent to E...
www.democracynow.org
December 24, 2025 at 1:40 AM
The Supreme Court blocked President Trump on Tuesday from deploying National Guard troops in Chicago as part of his campaign to use the military to police the streets of Democratic-led cities.
Supreme Court tells Trump he can’t use the military to police Chicago
The decision affirms lower court rulings that found no evidence of rebellion or unrest justifying military involvement.
www.motherjones.com
December 24, 2025 at 1:39 AM
"We followed everything we were supposed to do"
Legitimate green card applicants with US spouses are being
arrested by armed, masked men at scheduled immigration interviews, taken away from their children, sent to prison
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/26/u...
Legitimate green card applicants with US spouses are being
arrested by armed, masked men at scheduled immigration interviews, taken away from their children, sent to prison
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/26/u...
Green Card Interviews End in Handcuffs for Spouses of U.S. Citizens
www.nytimes.com
November 27, 2025 at 9:09 PM
Trump administration officials are using the McCarran Act from the 1950s to target immigrants and calling political opponents "the enemy from within."
A Cold War historian warns these tactics mirror 1950s McCarthyism and its devastating social harm. buff.ly/ExB8d7K
A Cold War historian warns these tactics mirror 1950s McCarthyism and its devastating social harm. buff.ly/ExB8d7K
Pentagon investigation of Sen. Mark Kelly revives Cold War persecution of Americans with supposedly disloyal views
President Donald Trump and his supporters cast their domestic opponents as disloyal, traitorous or worse, rather than seeing dissent as part of democracy.
theconversation.com
November 27, 2025 at 9:07 PM
'This Is the Scandal': DHS Data Show ICE Mostly Targeting People With No Criminal Convictions www.commondreams.org/news/immigra...
'This Is the Scandal': DHS Data Show ICE Mostly Targeting People With No Criminal Convictions | Common Dreams
The libertarian Cato Institute further undermined the Trump administration's claims that it is targeting "the worst of the worst" with its violent immigration operations by publishing data about the c...
www.commondreams.org
November 27, 2025 at 9:05 PM
Millions of Americans who receive health insurance through the Affordable Care Act marketplace are going to see their health insurance premiums double (or worse).
Less for Health Care, More for the Pentagon
The government shutdown ended with a failure to solve the problem of steeply rising health insurance premiums. The GOP’s “Big Beautiful Bill,” which
www.counterpunch.org
November 27, 2025 at 9:04 PM
🦃 Thanksgiving highlights the cost of groceries in the US, with turkeys cheaper but overall food prices up 2.7% from last year.
Many families still struggle, relying on food banks, while promotions and sales may ease some of the burden 👇
Many families still struggle, relying on food banks, while promotions and sales may ease some of the burden 👇
November 27, 2025 at 9:03 PM
Russian spy network exploits Ukrainian teenagers in Europe
Russian spy network exploits Ukrainian teenagers in Europe
One hundred dollars for torching a van, a few hundred more for planting a bomb or quick cash for snapping a photo of a strategic location: Russian intelligence services have found a new, cheap – and increasingly effective – way to conduct sabotage operations across Europe. They are recruiting Ukrainian children and teens online, luring them with gamified “tasks” and small financial rewards.
f24.my
November 27, 2025 at 9:02 PM
The US State Department has announced it will no longer commemorate World AIDS Day with public messaging. This ends a decades-long tradition of raising awareness on 1 December.
➡️ https://l.euronews.com/DIsl
➡️ https://l.euronews.com/DIsl
November 27, 2025 at 9:00 PM
The US Interior Department says new charges will fund park upkeep, but businesses fear international travellers will be put off visiting.
Higher entry fees for foreigners at US parks raise tourism concerns
The US Interior Department says new charges will fund park upkeep, but businesses fear international travellers will be put off visiting.
l.euronews.com
November 27, 2025 at 9:00 PM
The Russian president reiterated his maximalist demands over occupied areas of Ukraine, and insisted Moscow has no plans of slowing down its full-scale invasion or even negotiating with Kyiv.
Putin demands Kyiv withdraw forces from Eastern Ukraine
The Russian president reiterated his maximalist demands over occupied areas of Ukraine, and insisted Moscow has no plans of slowing down its full-scale invasion or even negotiating with Kyiv.
l.euronews.com
November 27, 2025 at 8:59 PM
South Carolina’s measles outbreak isn’t yet as large as those in other states, such as New Mexico, Arizona, and Kansas. But it highlights a confluence of larger trends — including historically low vaccination rates, skepticism fueled by the pandemic, misinformation, and “health freedom” ideologies.
South Carolina’s Measles Outbreak Illustrates Danger of Vaccine Misinformation
A confluence of larger national trends threaten communities with reemergence of a preventable, potentially deadly virus.
truthout.org
November 27, 2025 at 8:58 PM
The struggle over history, from Wounded Knee to Thanksgiving to ICE detentions, is not a debate about the past. It is a struggle over who defines America and whose humanity matters. buff.ly/rZBKFDj
The Right Wants to Write Indigenous People Out of US History. We Won’t Let Them.
The Trump administration is reviving the visual language of manifest destiny and weaponizing the US’s founding myths.
truthout.org
November 27, 2025 at 8:58 PM
At COP30, powerful petrostates and large polluting nations succeeded in blocking inclusion of a roadmap away from fossil fuels in the summit’s concluding agreement.
COP30’s Three F-Words: Failure on Fossil Fuels
By Amy Goodman & Denis Moynihan
Powerful petrostates and large polluting nations succeeded in blocking inclusion of a roadmap away from fossil fuels in the summit’s concluding agreement
www.democracynow.org
November 27, 2025 at 8:54 PM
“This is what corruption looks like,” Rep. Jasmine Crockett said about a firm with ties to Kristi Noem secretly working on a DHS ad campaign. “They’re stealing money from the American people’s pockets and depositing it into their bank accounts.”
Lawmakers Call for Probe of How Firm Tied to Kristi Noem Got Piece of $220 Million DHS Ad Contracts
The demands for an investigation come after a ProPublica story revealed that the Noem-connected Strategy Group was secretly a subcontractor on the ad campaign.
www.propublica.org
November 27, 2025 at 8:52 PM
"We cannot negotiate with people who say 'what's mine is mine and what's yours is negotiable'."
John F. Kennedy
25 July 1961
re: The Berlin Crisis
John F. Kennedy
25 July 1961
re: The Berlin Crisis
Putin: “When Ukrainians troops withdraw from the territories they hold, then we will cease hostilities; If they don’t leave, we will achieve this by military means “
November 27, 2025 at 8:41 PM
In case you missed it:
Federal authorities were chided for seizing electronic devices from Andrew Tate and his brother, and told to return them, records and interviews show. Experts said the intervention was highly inappropriate.
Federal authorities were chided for seizing electronic devices from Andrew Tate and his brother, and told to return them, records and interviews show. Experts said the intervention was highly inappropriate.
The White House Intervened on Behalf of Accused Sex Trafficker Andrew Tate During a Federal Investigation
Federal authorities were chided for seizing electronic devices from Tate and his brother, and told to return them, records and interviews show. Experts said the intervention was highly inappropriate.
www.propublica.org
November 22, 2025 at 3:41 AM
They were prosecuted, then pardoned by Trump:
• P.G. Sittenfeld: Convicted of taking a bribe
• Devon Archer: Convicted of defrauding $60M from a tribal entity
• Brian Kelsey: Convicted of illegally funneling ~$100K into his campaign
• P.G. Sittenfeld: Convicted of taking a bribe
• Devon Archer: Convicted of defrauding $60M from a tribal entity
• Brian Kelsey: Convicted of illegally funneling ~$100K into his campaign
A Tale of Two Terms: How Powerful Figures Were Prosecuted in Trump’s First Term, Then Pardoned in His Second
We found that Donald Trump has granted clemency in at least a dozen criminal cases that originated during his first term. No other president has used clemency to erase his own appointees’ actions on s...
www.propublica.org
November 22, 2025 at 3:41 AM